AMERICA MARTIN Discovery In 2012, Corky received a show invitation from a gallery in Texas he likes to visit when he goes to see his family. He was intrigued by the work and showed it to Timothy, who was equally taken with it and contacted America Martin. They talked at length and agreed to bring in some works to test. This marked the beginning of a mutually gratifying relationship between a dynamic young artist and all of us at TEW Galleries.
It is not often that one comes across an artist who seems to have it all; great talent, an instinct for the times in which she is working, a deep and loving grasp of art history – which she leverages effectively while contorting it to her own ebullient style – ease of communication and, most importantly, an articulate and wholehearted compulsion to create, and live, her work. America Martin had her first solo show at TEW in 2014 and it was quickly apparent that she would prove to be a rising star. Her work is approachable; easily and unabashedly allowing the viewer to see where her focus lies at the time of making. Martin’s paintings and drawings liberally reference historical influences while deftly retaining their own visual identity and ‘voice.’ Was she looking at Fernand Leger, Henri Matisse or Picasso? We are given hints as to what is happening in her own life - down the road at a café, a tableaux of a group of laborers working, or how her friends look when they ‘sit’ for a painting, not bounded by stillness, but rather, relaxing and chatting. It is all there; transformed into her archetypal imagery, is her quest for understanding what came before and an embrace of the ‘now’ of life. The artist’s work is lyrical, ebullient and sunny and reflects both her world and ours, with an immediacy which is charming and astute. Her most recent paintings utilize mixed media, including spray-paint, to create rich and seductive surfaces that play off and emphasize the bold dynamic of her forms. Born in Los Angeles in 1980, America Martin’s easy and open style of communication developed out of her natural inquisitiveness and sociability, and also, in part, because as a child, she was an actor. These innate aptitudes fuse seamlessly with her work, to the point where, once you have met America, you know that there is an integrity and authorship to what she does that makes it impossible to imagine that anyone else could be the creator. In 2016 Martin became increasingly interested in sculpture and has since created several small edition collections of works in powder-coated steel and, more recently,
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